One Million Moms Vs The NFL

The NFL has told the nation’s largest veterans service organization, American Vets, its patriotic ad that encourages people to stand for the American flag and national anthem will not be tolerated. AMVETS had been solicited by the NFL to place an ad in the Super Bowl LII program. When the submitted advertisement included a two-word message, “#PleaseStand”, the NFL suddenly threw the penalty flag at veterans and gave the game ball to Team Censorship.

“It’s a simple, polite request that represents the sentiment of our membership, particularly those whose missing or paralyzed limbs preclude standing,” National Commander Marion Polk wrote in a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “Freedom of speech works both ways. We respect the rights of those who choose to protest, as these rights are precisely what our members have fought – and in many cases died – for,” Polk added in the letter. “But imposing corporate censorship to deny that same right to those veterans who have secured it for us all is reprehensible and totally beyond the pale.”

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the Army Times that the advertisement program “is designed for fans to commemorate and celebrate the game, players, teams, and the Super Bowl.” McCarthy added, “It’s never been a place for advertising that could be considered by some as a political statement.” The AMVETS chief noted the irony that the NFL continues to claim that the anti-American protests by millionaire players on the field represent “free speech” even as the league denies free speech to AMVETS.

TAKE ACTION: Sign the petition to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, urging him and the NFL to stop the blatant hypocrisy and accept the patriotic ad by AMVETS as originally submitted.

This is just the latest stupid, stupid example of how the “free speech” right wing fails to comprehend how the first First Amendment actually works.

Can you imagine the (faux) outrage and screaming from religies and the far right if George was still around and preforming ? Delicious.

Chris

I agree with George that pride should be reserved for something you achieve or attain, but for me that applies to gay pride. It took me until I was 22 to acknowledge to myself that I was gay, and then to be OK with it and honest with everyone in my life, and then to be proud of who I am and what I’ve achieved despite (and because of!) the intolerance of those who wouldn’t want me to be happy or successful because of it. I had to grow to get there, and help others in my life to grow too.

🐾vorpal🐾

^^^ Agree with this. In the case of gay pride, pride is the opposite of shame, and most of us have been taught from a young age to be ashamed as fuck of our ability to love.

Overcoming that is no small feat and usually takes years. I think it took me about eight years from my first time coming out to anyone to being able to confidently tell people without any anxiety or shame that I am gay.

It amazes me how little empathy many “loving Christians” have for gay youth.

Chucktech

For me, I’ve always said that it’s not so much that I’m proud to be gay, I’m just not ashamed.

🐾vorpal🐾

Pretty much this exactly. I’m not anymore proud of the fact that I’m gay than I am the fact that I have blue eyes or am right-handed. It’s just a character trait.

The only difference is that I never had to go through a complicated and anxiety-ridden, lonely process to accept and feel comfortable disclosing to people that I have blue eyes and am right-handed :-).

(No, my eyes are not yellow as per my avatar. :D)

(((GC)))

And once upon a time, left-handed people had to go through a lot of crap as well… I’m sure a few folks here have stories to share!

JaniceInToronto

Fortunately, my father was left handed like me. When I came home from school and whined about the teacher making me use my right hand he flipped. One parent-teacher visit later and presto, no problem being left handed.

JaniceInToronto

“(No, my eyes are not yellow as per my avatar. :D)”

Good. Was gonna suggest a liver test…

Gianni

You put my own similar experience into words. Never really realized it but my own personal acceptance of myself as a gay man came well before I reached the point of not feeling any shame at simply telling others whom I considered friends or friendly associates. That necessary confidence took a while to mature in me. At the same time, I also realized that if any of those others didn’t want to be around me because of it, that was OK, I could handle it.

🐾vorpal🐾

Absolutely. I have known I was gay as far back as I could remember, and apart from having to lie about it and feel lonely about it, even with my closest friends and family (which takes a tremendous toll), I never felt personally bad about it. Using the word “gay”, though, was terrifying because I didn’t know what it really meant as the only very rare times I saw gay people on TV (usually on those awful talk shows, like Jenny Jones or Jerry Springer), they were not people I could relate to, nor were they people I wanted to be, so it frightened me that that was what I would become.

For a brief period when I was 12-13 or so, I thought I might be straight as I had developed a crush on a girl, and that actually upset me more than anything, as I figured out by the time I was 7-8 that I was romantically and sexually interested in other boys. I would go to bed at night sometimes crying and praying to god (as I was Christian at the time) to keep me liking boys. I liked that fact about myself and didn’t want to have to rediscover my entire identity.

Telling people, though, was very hard, especially since I’m fairly traditionally masculine by nature, so nobody ever seemed to suspect I was gay and I had to watch straight guys get bullied for the possibility of being gay. Until I was in my mid 20s, I couldn’t just announce it with any confidence and every coming out was anxiety ridden and filled with fear of rejection.

Then, like you, I realized that I didn’t really care if people rejected me because of it, because I built up enough confidence that at least on that issue, if people were not willing to accept me, then I didn’t want them in my life.

As I said elsewhere, I’m utterly amazed at how little empathy some people have for what gay youth often go through, and why our shared experiences are one of the things that are important about our identity. Years of feeling isolated, anxious, and like a liar who will be discovered and rejected by everybody is exhausting and difficult.

Gianni

Thank you for relating your story to me. So many of us have had such similar and identical feelings. How could it really be different, especially for a senior like myself? Being raised in a world that 24/7 hammers home the message that being gay is not natural, not approved, not wanted, God hates it, and worse yet, the notion that through prayer, dedication to the Christian faith, God, Jesus, etc, one could change to the welcomed, desired, approved form of a straight man. How could one not learn to be fearful of being found out when the realization hits that these feelings aren’t going to go away or change? For me, that happened at 19 years of age. I had to face the fact that I was gay and those feelings weren’t just ‘a thing’ or ‘a phase’. They were real and they were me. All those awful things that people said and believed were about me. Up to that point, I just accepted them and enjoyed them yet knew I had to keep quiet about it. The fear really started at that point of acknowledging the feelings. It was the start of a very personally painful period. I wanted to be liked and didn’t want friends or others to reject me and make fun of me. The day finally came years later when somehow things changed and I decided that I had fought to be what the world and God wanted me to be and I had lost. If I wasn’t good enough for the world, then fuck them all. They didn’t have to like me and I didn’t need them. So be it. And, if God didn’t like me, His own creation, that was His problem, not mine. I really began realizing that the God that so many people described and spoke for wasn’t worth it to me. It just became such a phony, made-up, fairy tale. Having been raised Catholic, I just waited for my punishment – it never came. At least, my life seems much like anyone else’s.

Sporkfighter

Never forget that your fight for gay rights is really a fight for everyone’s civil rights. When you win, everyone wins whether they know it or not. Generations unborn will be better off just as we are better off for the freedom riders of the sixties and the suffragettes of the 1890s.

🐾vorpal🐾

I love to tell opponents of same-sex marriage who call it a “special right” that it is an expansion of EVERYONE’S rights and freedoms because now, they too, have the right to get married to someone of the same sex.

They don’t usually like it when I say that, and it usually stops the discussion.

Sporkfighter

You’re joking, but it’s true. I have no interest in marrying someone of my same gender, so same sex marriage shouldn’t change anything for me but it does. A right I have but don’t exercise is still a right; “I didn’t choose to” is a far different thing than “I wasn’t allowed to”.

🐾vorpal🐾

Exactly. I don’t smoke marijuana because I really dislike the way it reacts with my personal chemistry, but I hardly think legalizing it grants “special rights” to people who do enjoy it and choose to use it, simply because I lack any desire to do so. (And I fully support legalization of marijuana and would like to see that extended to many other drugs.)

xzargo

Fuck Christians.

JT

Yes, except for cases where pride is a refusal to accept oppression or an imposition of second class status. That’s what gay pride involves.

PickyPecker

* D*n’t *nd*rst*nd.

Nic Peterson

Monica is trying to take away their Super Bowl. She might have an easier time cancelling Xmas or that other holiday with the rabbit.

Why do RWNJs not understand the concept of free speech? The NFL not wanting to air their stupid ass ad does not violate their free speech. I so sick and fucking tired of this free speech bullshit. Look Marion, people just don’t want to hear what you have to say.

Gustav2

What part of the Constitution do they really understand? It is a liberal document.

clay

“NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told the Army Times that the advertisement program ‘is designed for fans to commemorate and celebrate the game, players, teams, and the Super Bowl.’ McCarthy added, ‘It’s never been a place for advertising that could be considered by some as a political statement.'”

If you didn’t fulfill the grantor’s guidelines, be thankful you got any explanation for the rejection, rather than just going into the cylindrical file.

Karl Dubhe 2

FFS, I’m a veteran. Part of the reason I served was so that people could say un-fucking-popular goddamn doglicking things. The nastier the better as far as I was/am concerned.

Who the fuck are those shit-tards to tell me to stand the fuck up. Or to sit down for that matter. I’ll bet half of their ‘followers’ on twitter served in the mother-licking Russian Army.

What was it that French fucker said about free speech? Something about not agreeing, but being willing to fight to defend your right to say it. I do believe.

Some people need to take some proper history lessons…

John Ruff

If only it weren’t black players kneeling is what these moms are thinking.

Racists: always complaining about how PC liberals are, only taking breaks to say that they’re not racist… they’re just “America First.”

🐾vorpal🐾

Goes well with her lipstick.

hdtex

You should see her “tramp stamp”.

John Ruff

Giggles 😊

clay

Honey, ain’t NONE of it free speech if the NFL’s paying for it!

Gigi

A handful of older, possibly racist, vets think that peaceful protests by mostly black NFL players are “disrespectful” and “anti-American.” Big whoop. No one is silencing them. No one’s telling them that they can be upset or disgusted by the protests. FYI Monica, it’s not “a simple, polite request” when you try to take the First Amendment rights away from people with whom you disagree. Get stuffed, b*tch!

clay

Congress is still allowing them to buy as much air time from NBC as they want (and can afford without the NFL’s help). They don’t get to demand the NFL pay for their political social commentary.

🐾vorpal🐾

OMM won’t stand for kneeling!

Cuberly Deux

“The AMVETS chief noted the irony that the NFL continues to claim that the anti-American protests by millionaire players on the field…”

There it is. Was wondering when it’d pop up and voila’! Those unappreciative black players need to be put in their place….right? Those rich, wealthy, spoiled, uppity….they’re spitting on vets ya’ll VETERANZ!!!1!1!!

Evangelical white supremacists just can’t help themselves can they.

Ragnar Lothbrok

Stand Monica. Put your hand over your pussy and be proud !

Karl Dubhe 2

No-one else wants to …

Maybe I better not.

carrot festival

No one else has. Obviously.

🐾vorpal🐾

Presumably, if she’s a mom like she claims, something must have been brave (read: drunk, desperate) enough to dump a load of jizz into her dusty, arid grotto.

Fascist definition of free speech: You have the right to say and do whatever I demand and you may not object or fail to comply.

Tempus Fuggit

Goes fist-in-fist with the American definition of freedom of religion: every individual has the freedom to choose the correct religion; those who fail to choose Conservateeve Eeeeevangelical Christianity, well, if they’re going to shake their fist at God, what do they expect? ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Robert “Eldin” Pastorelli passed away in 2004. Can’t be Murphy Brown w/out him constantly painting and repainting her house.

Reality.Bites

I would imagine she’s moved to a condo by now.

safari

… what year is this?

Karl Dubhe 2

They still haven’t “recovered” from that writer’s strike all those years ago. Nobody knows what to write anymore.

🐾vorpal🐾

I have to say that the new season of Will & Grace isn’t nearly as bad as I predicted it would be. The first ep was a bit painful to watch, but it’s gotten better.

Karl Dubhe 2

I shot my TV. 🙂 I’ll have to wait until they come out on video, and then watch.

It makes for fewer commercials.

🐾vorpal🐾

The fact that 1/3 of a TV show slow consists of commercials is why I bittorrent everything.
I don’t remember the last time I saw a commercial.

Lazycrockett

The Big Bang Theory barely clocks in at 18 minutes of air time these days.

Reality.Bites

CBS doesn’t own the show (gets no share of syndication revenue) and has to pay a big license fee for it.

Ninja0980

The Writer’s Strike killed or ruined several good shows and also led to the rise of the reality show..bleh.

Karl Dubhe 2

May the execs be boiled in an afterlife for their greed.

John Ruff

Wow. She’s still alive?

FancyThat

She sat directly in front of us at Billy Elliott 9 years back — and looked fabulous. Time goes by so quickly.

John Ruff

Oh good. Hope the show does well.

Maggie 4NoH8

I saw her about a year ago in a car museum in Oxnard, California. Looked fabulous!

John Ruff

What the Hell was she doing in a car museum in Oxnard?

Natty Enquirer

I don’t see either the NFL or One Million Moms making a constitutional argument here. Free speech exists as an ideal outside of the guarantee against government censorship.

coram nobis

The “argument” seems to be that it’s censorship, somehow, for a commercial enterprise to refuse to run an ad. Even if it is on the basis of content, NFL is free to take a paid ad or not. You’re right in that it isn’t a 1st Am. issue involving gov’t censorship, given this fact pattern.

Tomcat

Forcing people to stand for the flag is fascism, The right to decide to is Democracy.

Boreal

She’s watching a game (without her husband’s permission) involving the skin of an unclean animal and then trying to tell men what to do, against all biblical teachings.

Per the NFL, every game is a “battle” so we need to be as patriotic as possible (NE Patriots not withstanding) and pray to Jeebus that “our side” wins the game therefore showing that Jeebus favors “our” team the “best”. In spite of New England having a high concentration of atheists or at least non-fanatical Jeebus types, Tom and the gang still do well regardless. It must be Gisele with her Brazilian voodoo.

(((GC)))

So that’s why so many millions of poor, innocent children continue to starve, be abused, and get cancer! Got it! Jeebus is simply overwhelmed with all the frivolous prayers and displays of shallow piety!

Lizard

Anecdotal I know, but almost all of the most vehement criticism towards the “You must stand for the Pledge or you aren’t a True American” rhetoric has been from veterans who actually understand the Constitution.

Jean-Marc in Canada

Exactly. It’s the same here. My father was vet of WWII, Korea, Suez crisis, Golan, etc. but he never once pushed the notion that you MUST stand for the anthem or even respect the flag. He always made a point of saying: “I did not fight for your right to obey, I fought for your right to think for yourself” A smart man my dad was.

Reality.Bites

I always stand. Well sometimes I need to bend over a bit, depending on the furniture I’m cleaning.

“No your rights.” In other words, your rights are less important than mine. No to your rights. Yes to mine.

netxtown

Please allow me, a vet, be the first to let the stupid bitches at OMM know with all certainty that they don’t have a fucking clue. It does no good to prop up one piece of American ideals – and ignore the atrocities done to so many. The kneeling is not about patriotism, ya stupid fucking bitches! It’s about FREEDOM AND JUSTICE for ALL!

Reality.Bites

there isn’t anyone at OMM. It’s a brand, not an organization.

netxtown

Sent to AMVETS:

I am very disheartened that a Veterans organization would thrust ALL
vets into such a divisive argument. The kneeling players are trying
to bring attention to the continuing social injustice suffered by
many minority citizens of this country – MANY of which have served
in our military and are now veterans as well.

I ask you to consider:

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and
to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with
liberty and justice for all.”

Those last few words is what we fought for. We didn’t fight for a
flag or a song. We fought for liberty and justice for all.

Mark
US Navy Vet

andrew

Why did you omit the words “under God” in the pledge of allegiance?

Maggie 4NoH8

those words were only added in the early 50’s. “Under God” is bullshit added by religious fucks LONG AFTER the country was founded.

netxtown

cuz we ain’t

Reality.Bites

I see you’re a Navy vet. What a moron you are to have served a country you actually know nothing about.

But idiots like you have long served as cannon fodder, so you’re still part of a proud tradition.

(((GC)))

The phrase “Under God” was added to the Flag Code in 1954, not only as a rejection of those godless Commies but also, as Kevin Kruse (One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America) argues, as part of an indoctrination that capitalism and free enterprise, individual effort and individual salvation, as opposed to the “pagan statism” of the New Deal, were heavenly blessed.

“This is just the latest stupid, stupid example of how the “free speech” right wing fails to comprehend how the first First Amendment actually works.”

They don’t care. “Freedom of speech” and “First Amendment” are good buzzwords to get the base riled up. Doesn’t matter that the First Amendment only applies to the government — the base doesn’t know that.

It’s like Pavlov’s dogs: the right has got the base so conditioned that any time they’re not allowed to say what they want to say by anyone, under any circumstances, their rights are being violated.

Mike

Here’s a better thing for loyal American to harp on, something that actually matters: #Please stop shooting people for being black.

Mike

The what-have-you-done-for-us-lately generation is heard. Hey VFW guy, where were you and your sourpuss when we learned that the US tortures military prisoners, and that the president of the United States stands with nazis? We could have used your support. It turns out your sense of patriotism is on the fritz. I’d get that checked out.

Raising_Rlyeh

Because the best kind of patriotism is forced patriotism.

Ann Kah

So the vets fought “for freedom” but don’t want anyone to exercise that freedom?